Some of the participants of the virtual briefing on the Pan Malaysia Pastoral Convention 2026. (PMPC 2026).
By Peter Zeter
Aug 17 2021
A virtual briefing on the Pan Malaysia Pastoral Convention 2026 (PMPC 2026) was held on August 7 for the clergy, religious and members of the parish pastoral councils and commissions of the Archdiocese of Kota Kinabalu.
KOTA KINABALU – A virtual briefing on the Pan Malaysia Pastoral Convention 2026 (PMPC 2026) was held on August 7 for the clergy, religious and members of the parish pastoral councils and commissions of the Archdiocese of Kota Kinabalu.
With curiosity and perhaps a little hesitancy, 171 participants attended the two-hour session, listening to the online briefing presented by Anthoni Lim and Fr Thomas Madanan, who are on the PMPC 2026 central organising committee, and Dominic Lim, the Archdiocesan Executive Secretary. Archbishop Datuk John Wong was also present.
The briefing began with morning prayer led by Bro Thomas Paul, SG, followed by an overview of PMPC 2026 presented by Anthoni Lim. Diving all the way back to the birth of the Peninsular Malaysia Pastoral Convention in 1976, an event widely known as the Aggiornamento, and outlining the history behind the rebirth of PMPC 2026, as well as elaborating the Vision and Mission, Antoni closed his session by reminding all participants not to feel threatened by the introduction of PMPC 2026 into the pastoral scene of the Archdiocese.
Knowing well that the Archdiocese has its own pastoral plan, known as the DOPP (Diocesan Organisational Pastoral Plan), many of the participants had earlier voiced confusion and concern — whether the introduction of another pastoral plan would mean another task at hand or scrapping the DOPP.
Archbishop Wong allayed their fears by explaining that, while the DOPP is still very much the life-system of all pastoral initiatives within the Archdiocese, the PMPC 2026 is a complementary plan which will serve ‘as an opportunity and blessing’ for all, ‘to grow in its process, for our personal faith journey, for family, for community, for the diocese and for the whole of Malaysia’.
He also explained that the Vision and Mission of PMPC 2026 is similar to the Kota Kinabalu Archdiocese’s Vision and Mission, and pointed out that all the processes for the PMPC 2026, which will soon start at the parish level, are complementary to the pastoral elements embedded in the DOPP itself.
Closing the briefing, Archbishop Wong thanked all the participants for attending the online meeting and said he hoped that the briefing had revitalised pastoral zeal amidst the waves of the pandemic. The session ended at about 11.15am. – Herald Malaysia
